Security costs for Education Secretary Betsy DeVos could top $7.7 million over the next year, almost $1 million more than was spent in total for her security during the 2018 fiscal year, the U.S. Marshals Service says.
Politico reported Wednesday that the estimated $7.74 million in security expenses is the result of an agreement between the Department of Education and the U.S. Marshals to provide outside security for DeVos on her official travels.
{mosads}The fiscal 2019 estimate is a sharp increase from the estimate of $6.54 million for fiscal 2018 that was reported last September. The actual department spending ended up being about $6.79 million.
The Education Department has previously noted that DeVos has employed cost-cutting measures at the agency to battle rising security costs, including footing the bill personally for all her public and private travel and paying for marshals to fly on her private plane.
A spokesman for the U.S. Marshals explained the unusual agreement last year, saying only that the “nature of threats against the secretary” deemed it necessary for DeVos to be protected by more than the Department of Education’s small security force.
The Washington Post reported in April 2017 that the U.S. Marshals would hire 22 additional employees to guard DeVos following an incident that year in which DeVos was blocked from entering a D.C.-area school by protesters.